The 1,200-member Maine Lobstermen’s Association celebrated its 50th anniversary at an annual meeting held during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, March 6.
“You work together in the Maine Lobstermen’s Association in a way that’s a model for the rest of the country,” U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Portland told members. “I’ve advocated for your model of managing the resource on a regular basis to my colleagues around the country.”
“Lobstermen in Maine have shown how to organize and be coherent. You’ve done good work, even if you didn’t have consensus on every single issue,” Allen added. “This industry has a history of flexibility and innovation that’s missing at the national level.”
Some of the people being lauded for their accomplishments over the years had members rolling in the aisles with their tales of dealing with the bureaucracy in the early days of lobster management.
Current MLA board president Dave Cousens of South Thomaston presented Shannon Dyer, grandson of MLA founder Leslie Dyer, with a plaque honoring his deceased grandfather’s achievements.
Cousens also presented Ed Blackmore, retired president of the MLA, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Blackmore, who took the reins from Ossie Beal in 1974 and retired in 1991, helped shepherd many current lobster conservation regulations through state and federal legislative processes. Cousens said he was fresh out of college, lobstering, and dutifully going to the state capital to support lobster bills in legislative hearings when he first met Blackmore 24 years ago. Blackmore, like Cousens, was never noted for his reticence.
“I have to tell my favorite Ed Blackmore story,” said Cousens. Maine elected its first independent governor, James B. Longley, for one term from 1975 to 1979. One day, Blackmore attended a meeting with Longley and others because the lobster industry was under discussion.
“Longley said something that was wrong, so Ed raised his hand and said ‘You’re not quite right about that, Governor.’ Longley snapped at Ed, ‘You’re a special interest.’ So Ed put his hand down. Later, Longley said something else that was inaccurate. Ed raised his hand again and said, ‘You’re wrong about that, Governor.’ ”
Once again, Longley told Blackmore to pipe down, because he represented a special interest group. When it happened a third time, Blackmore raised his hand again to correct the governor, who again reminded him sharply that he was a ‘special interest.’ Blackmore, now at the end of his rope, snapped, “I’d rather be a special interest than no interest at all.”
Soon after the MLA’s founding, Blackmore recalled, “lobster was selling for 49 cents a pound in supermarkets. I thought ‘this is the end of the industry.'” So 4,000 Maine harvesters tied up their boats in a work stoppage that brought them higher prices, but also charges of violating anti-trust laws.
“But, we went out and put lobsters in the mouths of people who never tried it. Sales took off,” Blackmore recalled. “The federal government said we violated anti-trust laws, but we had no money, so they couldn’t fine us.
“They considered giving us jail time,” he added. “But I guess they thought maybe we didn’t smell good enough to put into the regular prison population.
“Things were going good,” he continued. “Then came another black cloud – the Internal Revenue Service.” In the 1970s, the IRS decided to crack down on lobstermen for tax violations, such as failing to withhold Social Security taxes from sternmen. Lobster harvesters argued that sternmen received a share, not a salary, and were independent contractors.
“In the end, we got the solution from the IRS,” said Blackmore. “They said, if you don’t like the law, change it. So we did.”
Back when the council system was established, lobsters were managed through the New England Fishery Management Council, so Blackmore was appointed an adviser to its Lobster Committee. “We already had trap vents and V-notching, but they treated me like I was a 15-watt bulb, not too bright.”
Later he was appointed to the Council and chaired the lobster subcommittee. He brought the idea of V-notching to the council. “I lobbied the 17 members. I knew I had eight votes and I needed one. I lobbied one guy hard, but I didn’t know how he’d vote. We held the meeting in Mystic, Connecticut, and I called for a roll call vote on the V-notch. We went down the list and he was the very last one, alphabetically. But he said ‘yes’ and that’s how we got the V-notch on the books. Not everywhere, then. But now it’s everywhere. If you persevere, you succeed.”
Clayton Howard, a lawyer from Damariscotta who worked to set up Maine’s lobster co-ops, recalled the industry’s problems with the IRS and the tricks the agency played on harvesters to trip them up. If harvesters couldn’t show proof of which dealers they sold lobster to, the tax agency threatened to reject all their deductions. But the lobster industry prevailed, through the efforts of the MLA. “We were able to track down the expenses of all the people who knit heads, stuffed bait bags,” said Howard. “It brought the state of Maine together.”
After that, the MLA helped found a fishermen’s credit union and brought an affordable health care program to members. The credit union is now defunct, but Howard said he hopes it will be revived someday. “It’s been a wonderful trip and I wouldn’t change anything for the world,” said Howard.
Bill Adler, president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, praised “our big brother organization. It’s been my pleasure to work with the MLA for many years. We have worked together and fought for many things together.”